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Tuesday, September 30, 2008

Responding to mounting criticism of the judicial system after a paroled felon killed a Philadelphia police officer, Gov. Rendell yesterday ordered a halt to the release of parolees until an independent expert can conduct "a top-to-bottom review" of how the state releases violent offenders.

The assessment will be conducted by John S. Goldkamp, chairman of the Temple University Department of Criminal Justice, who Rendell tapped to review a system that each month paroles about 1,000 inmates out of a prison population of about 47,000.

The move came on the eve of today's funeral of Police Officer Patrick McDonald, 30, who was killed last Tuesday by Daniel Giddings, a recently paroled violent criminal.

In May, Sgt. Stephen Liczbinski was gunned down after he intercepted three men - all parolees with histories of violent crime - who had just robbed a bank.

This will not endear Rendell to the liberals who like the revolving door policy that our prison systems have become. This should be a no-brainer--you commit a violent crime, you serve your entire term. Instead, we allow these thugs out early for "good behavior" or some other such tripe. The parole board was almost as responsible for the deaths of Officers McDonald and Liczbinski than were the actual perpetrators.

Our police officers are doing a tough job and doing it well, why should we make it harder and more dangerous on them?

Well, the police have had enough and are targeting their anger at liberal, activist judges who make law from the bench:

"Our police officers are angry and they're outraged," John J. McNesby, president of the FOP's Lodge 5, said at a news conference attended by about 200 uniformed officers and police supporters.

McNesby called for an "all-out assault" on parole board members who prematurely release violent offenders and on judges who he said go easy on offenders charged with assaulting police officers. Lenient judges, McNesby said, would be targeted in the press, on billboards and in advertisements.

...Ramsey and McNesby singled out Municipal Court Judge Jacquelyn Frazier-Lyde, who last week downgraded a felony aggravated-assault charge against a 19-year-old man accused of punching a police officer in the throat.

Frazier-Lyde reportedly made dismissive comments about crimes against police at the time she downgraded the charges, and then was upset with police when her comments were published in Friday's Philadelphia Daily News.

You can read Frazier-Lyde's vile comments and read about her leniency with felons here.

I would expect the jackals from the ACLU to file suit today attempting to block Rendell's action.